1. The Unreasonable, Vexatious and Querulant as
Client, Employee or Spouse
DR GRANT LESTER
Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist
Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health
Website: managing-unreasonable-complainants.com
Good morning
NGMI and for lighter relief THREATENERS
risk assessments /threaten violence, they may or may not have obvious mental illness
HETEROGENEOUS group
SUBSET whose threats were on the background of long term complaint, a stated pursuit of justice.vindication, protection of the public good, and there day in court
DESTRUCTIVE SELF OTHERS
SIGNIFICANT PROPENSITY TO CARRY OUT THREATS

2. COMPLAINANTS THE SPECTRUM OF COMPLAINT NORMAL UNREASONABLE
QUERULANT (MORBID COMPLAINANT)
SECONDARY TO MAJOR PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS
THE UNREASONABLE AND VEXATIOUS LITIGANTS IN COURT
MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES IN THE OFFICE

3. Querulant (morbid complainant)–Relentlessly driven by a ‘pursuit of justice’, their complaints cascade in type and target over years and secondarily devastate their own lives.
Vexatious Litigant – institute legal proceedings, habitually, persistently and without reasonable grounds.
Unreasonable Complaint Behaviours- vexatious complaint, demanding, persistent, uncooperative or aggressive (anger, intimidation, threats and violence) behaviour.
PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH QUERULANTS/QUERULOUS PARANOIA
LEGAL DISCOURSE VEXATIOUS LITIGANTS
SMALL SUBGRP YOUR CLIENTS
APOLOGISE HOWARD GEORGE BUSH, BEASLY GEORGE BUSH

4. The Normal Complainant
Aggrieved and seeking legitimate redress
Proportionality and perspective maintained i.e. values other life domains.
Focus and specificity maintained.
Able to negotiate and accept reasonable settlement.
That is they maintain perspective

5. The Unreasonable Complainant
Emotional and easily angered.
Language of ‘being victimised’.
Entitled and over-optimistic expectations of compensation.
Difficult to negotiate with and rejecting of all but their valuation.
Though persistent, demanding and occasionally threatening will ultimately settle though still complaining of injustice (maintains some proportionality).

6. The Unreasonable Complainant
OBSESSIONAL PERSONALITY.
NARCISISTIC PERSONALITY.
PARANOID AND CHRONIC GRUMBLERS.
DISHONEST AND GREEDY.

7. CLAIMS ARISING FROM PRE-EXISTING SCHIZOPHRENIA
Aggrieved by persecution and loss.
Claims arise totally or in part from the delusions and hallucinations associated with a pre-existing schizophrenic illness.
Claims often bizarre.
Nature of claim usually in constant flux
Often impossible to define let alone resolve the claim

8. THE QUERULANT (MORBID COMPLAINANT)
Querulants are not born, they GROW.
Worst ages ages 40’s to 60’s, Men:Women 4:1, no crime, drugs or psychiatric illness.
Listen for victimization, persecution and finally loss.
Communications; multi-modes, voluminous, over emphasised, legalistic and often contain threats.
Relentless and prolonged ‘Pursuit of Justice’.
Inflexibly focussed on grievance but if offered ‘total’ compensation will extend complaints.
Openly seeking compensation, secretly wanting punishment of others and vindication of self.

9. STUDIES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE QUERULANT
Personality mix; Obsessional, Narcissistic and Paranoid.
Ageing; Can’t accept mortality, loss of power and non accomplishment.
“To start to hate for ever, the chances for love must appear to be disappearing”.
Life Events; Marital break up/custody issues,
Educational or career setback e.g. failure, negative evaluation, dismissal or lack of promotion,
Physical or psychological injury or illness.
Egocentric personality (ie have a constitutional inability to understand other peoples points of view/non empathic) often self referential and suspicious
Externally arrogant but inner inferiority and sensitivity
Self righteous easily affronted
Obsessional traits
Socially isolated
Have failed in their lives main ambitions despite usually being striving and demanding people
May be generally subsumed under heading those with paranoid traits and paranoid personalities

10. THE QUERULANT IN COURT ‘Voluntarily’ self-represented’.
It is ‘a moral issue’ hence emotionally labile, self righteous and indignant.
Legally ‘Hyper-competent’ yet disorganised and seeking adjournments.
“A wearisome diffuseness of conversation and argument ” leading to Bower Birding.
Magna Carta, Constitution, Natural law, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Bill of Rights 1688 (UK).
Websites, Support Groups, McKenzie Friend and Marriage.

11. The Querulant and the Law
Lester G, Wilson B, Griffin L, Mullen P. Unusually persistent complainants. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2004, 184:
Lester G. The Vexatious Litigant. Judicial Officer’s Bulletin April Vol 17, Nos 3, 17-19
Lester G, Smith S. Inventor, Rascal, Crank or Querulent? Australia’s Vexatious Litigant Sanction 75 years on. Psychiatry Psychology Law 2006 Vol 13 Nos 1, 1-27
Mullen P, Lester G. Vexatious Litigants and Unusually Persistent Complainants and Petitioners: From Querulous Paranoia to Querulous Behaviour. Behavioural Sciences and the Law, 2006, Vol 24,
Levy. B. From paranoia querulans to vexatious litigants: a short study on madness between psychiatry and the law. Part 1. History of Psychiatry.Vol. 25(3) 299–316, 2014
Meads v. Meads, 2012 ABQB 571 (CanLII) Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument [“OPCA”] Litigants
J.D.Rooke, Associate Chief Justice, Court of Queens Bench, Alberta, Canada (736 paragraph Judgement on a matrimonial case)
British researcher P. d’Orban found 160 woman imprisoned for Contempt between in England and Wales.
38% had psychiatric disorder of paranoid type (2/3 had a history of extensive litigiousness).
Mentally disordered more likely to be in midst of matrimonial or neighbour dispute than financial eg bankruptcy
Mentally disordered more likely to breach a court order, or not attend court, just as likely to cause a disturbance in court or assault a court official
Ian Freckleton
Fall out with lawyers
Abandon work to focus on ‘learning law’-justify why they are out of time for actions/appeals from far past wrongs
Focus on magna carta, international covenant on civil and political rights, the constitution,
Knowledge gleaned from secondary sources-may never have seen context of favourable sentence or phrase
Often quote natural justice
Once in the maze-they may lose focus and new grievances with legal process or court officers may occur
Rowlands
Studied vexatious litigants-found a range of pathologies from paranoid personalitiy disorder to querlous paranoia to schizophrenia

12. Management Complaining to or about you or your organisation.
Management of Unreasonable Complaint behaviour.
(a combination of administrative techniques and threat assessment i.e. Containment and Safety)

13. In the Office First: You will struggle.
Second: Recognise the 5 V’s (victimised, voluminous and vague communications, variable demands, seeks vindication).
Third: Maintain focus for yourself and them.
Fourth: Don’t escalate.
Fifth: Don’t over service.
Sixth: Contain i.e. record, discuss, respond.
Seventh: Record fact not opinion.
Eighth: Maintain your and others safety.
Ninth: Never personalise encounter.
Tenth: Don’t review just because they are unhappy.
Eleventh: Manage ALL threats and aggression.
Twelfth: You will struggle. They will complain. Be not dismayed.

14. The End